Newt Gingrich is not going to be on the Republican ticket and neither is Herman Cain. They certainly aren't going to be on a ticket together since they're both from Georgia and can't both get Georgia's electoral votes. Newt is utterly undisciplined. He's good at spinning off ideas but he has no capacity for separating the good ones from the bad ones. “Right-wing social engineering” alone is disqualifying, and lets not even talk about Dede Scozzafava or Nancy Pelosi and global warming. Newt is a valuable member of the chattering class, but he has no business running for President and he won't get very far. Herman Cain just doesn't have a presidential resume. That may not be fair. It doesn't matter. He will never break out of single digits.
You just aren't grappling with reality here in a number of respects. There is no alternative to Perry and the immigration issue is both substantively and politically immaterial.
Immigration is substantively immaterial because it doesn't distinguish Perry from any other candidate. Perry has a soft spot for illegals. So does every other member of the political class. This is one thing all the players agree on. Nobody with a shot at the White House in either party would deal with our illegal immigration problem more aggressively than Rick Perry would. You won't see serious action from any of them.
Politically, immigration is immaterial because it doesn't move enough votes to count. How many times to the immigration zealots have to be disappointed at the polls before they get the message. Almost nobody cares.
Those of us expecting this issue to hamper Perry are going to be disappointed, yet again.
Let's deal with reality. We either have to find a serious alternative or reconcile ourselves to Perry. There is no third option.
Well if you are so invested in a Perry presidency then I suggest you have a little one on one with him and tell him its a bad idea to call your own base heartless. And he needs to know that instate tuition for illegals is a non starter with conservatives. He turned a lot of people off Thurs night.